Another example of "Professional Grade"

[beanoil]

Rant on:
Spring cleaning on the wife's Envoy. Yep, that's the one, the one the wife loves, and I have grown to, well, not love. Lousy cruise control, and that danged 13 MPG. I expected more from GMC. But, back on topic.. during cleaning, I removed the top of the airbox to get the leftover leaves, bugs, and what not from said box. 2 13mm bolts to remove a fender brace, 3 screws, wiggle the top off around the radiator overflow and AC hoses, and find.... A Fram. Yep, a Fram air filter, in all of it's horrid radioactive orange glory, laying right there on the end of the flextube. Fram P/N, made in Canada, the whole bit. 33+ thousand, and I get a Fram from GMC, and the cheap Fram at that! The sticker on the door says something to the effect of Assembled with Pride by UAW in Oklahoma.. We are OK! They may be, I'm not. Replaced it with a Wix. Soft, semi sticky end for the flextube, thicker media, more pleats. Drive, wife, drive, for you are now better protected, at least in my mind.....Before I get bashed, Professional Grade, at least to me, is a step above entry level. A notch above "meets OEM". A red hair better than cheapest. When I get a part for something, I don't order "service grade", I order "professional grade" or "exceeds OEM". Someone is going to reply, "But GM uses various suppliers for blah, blah, blah, to meet current and future demands, blah, blah, blah." Sure they do, but someone is still making a choice for suppliers, and making a mockery of the badging that states "Keep your GM vehicle all GM by using AC Delco filters" I just never expected to find an orange FRAM...
Rant off. Thanks for reading.

 

[sixonthefloor]

Hey well atleast you know now and have replaced the filter with a better one that you are happy with.

 

[Mr Nice]

I had a UOA done with a Fram filter with 30K miles on it and there was only 4 PPM of silicon (Si) using a $9 Fram air filer.

I would not buy a Fram oil filter, but are Fram air filters really that poor quality ??

 

[Pete C.]

Quote:

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I would not buy a Fram oil filter, but are Fram air filters really that poor quality ??

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At the risk of life and limb.... Nope.

 

[ThirdeYe]

I've personally never had any problem with Fram's air filters, but i've heard a lot of horror stories here and elsewhere about their oil filters.

 

[Jim 5]

Terry Dyson routinely recommends Fram AIR filters for hondas and acuras.

I believe he has stated that they are a well made product. The bottom line from what I can see is that while the oil filter offering from fram is seriously overpriced for what you get (to be charitable), the fram air filter is decent.

 

[RF Overlord]

^^^what they said^^^

While I am a recovering FRAM-aholic, and will never knowingly use another Orange Can of Doom, I've never heard anything bad about their air or transmission filters.

For the record, I've also had 2 bad experiences with FRAM fuel filters rusting heavily and leaking and will never use them again, either.

 

[obbop]

After the horrible attitudes I have experienced with 3 Chevy dealers and the coporate office supposedly concerned with some intangible called "customer satisfaction" there is nuthin' Chevy/GMC cn do to surprise me.... other than alter their extremely poor attitude.

 

[Papa Bear]

obbop, you didn't aggravate the General, did ya ??

 

[SargeGTO]

Quote:

---

Rant on:
Spring cleaning on the wife's Envoy. Yep, that's the one, the one the wife loves, and I have grown to, well, not love. Lousy cruise control, and that danged 13 MPG. I expected more from GMC. But, back on topic.. during cleaning, I removed the top of the airbox to get the leftover leaves, bugs, and what not from said box. 2 13mm bolts to remove a fender brace, 3 screws, wiggle the top off around the radiator overflow and AC hoses, and find.... A Fram. Yep, a Fram air filter, in all of it's horrid radioactive orange glory, laying right there on the end of the flextube. Fram P/N, made in Canada, the whole bit. 33+ thousand, and I get a Fram from GMC, and the cheap Fram at that! The sticker on the door says something to the effect of Assembled with Pride by UAW in Oklahoma.. We are OK! They may be, I'm not. Replaced it with a Wix. Soft, semi sticky end for the flextube, thicker media, more pleats. Drive, wife, drive, for you are now better protected, at least in my mind.....Before I get bashed, Professional Grade, at least to me, is a step above entry level. A notch above "meets OEM". A red hair better than cheapest. When I get a part for something, I don't order "service grade", I order "professional grade" or "exceeds OEM". Someone is going to reply, "But GM uses various suppliers for blah, blah, blah, to meet current and future demands, blah, blah, blah." Sure they do, but someone is still making a choice for suppliers, and making a mockery of the badging that states "Keep your GM vehicle all GM by using AC Delco filters" I just never expected to find an orange FRAM...
Rant off. Thanks for reading.

---

I wouldnt be upset. Often times GM/Ford all of them will use OEM after market equipment. I've seen Champion plugs in a brand spanking new Ford F150. Why do you have such an issue with a Fram Air Filter? Just curious.

 

[westex39]

I am wondering if someone swapped out a fram for the AC Delco filter that was originally installed in your vehicle.
I always check to see if an air filter is installed in any new car I buy. You just can't trust some people.

 

[Steve S]

Fram is ok,G.M. , what do you expect from them ?They are as their ad campaign stated years ago THE HEART BREAK OF AMERICA.

 

[GMBoy]

As a long time member of GM management and having worked in multiple GM plants - I can tell you that GM only uses AC DELCO filters. Somebody swapped yours out, thats all. I know people from the OK plant, they same the same thing - AC delcos are installed. No frams. Sorry you fell ripped off, but the General didn't do it this time.

 

[biomed_eng_2000]

Doesn't GM own AC Delco? So it would make sense to "buy" from your own company and not a competitor (Fram).

I don't think Fram has a patent on the color orange.

 

[MonumentOiler]

If GM puts it in the car at the factory then it is OEM equipment regardless of who made it. I've never heard anything bad regarding the FRAM air filters and they have done well in the head-to-head testing I've seen.

 

[wgtoys]

"Keep your GM vehicle all GM by using AC Delco filters"

GM hasn't made it's own filters for years. AC-Delco is now just a name they put on a box of whatever third party product was cheapest. What used to be the AC-Delco filter making business was kicked out of the family with the rest of the rag tag Delphi group. Delphi then kicked the filter business, the battery business, the alternator business, the starter business and others on down the road to yet other owners. There is no such thing really as an AC-Delco product anymore, at least not in terms of dedicated design and manufacturing.

You might also be surprised to know that many "Wix" filters are third party products, especially for imports. The last "Wix" fuel filter I bought was inked Made in China on the can.

Finally, if you fell for the "Professional Grade" marketing that is sort of sad. A GMC truck is 99.9999% pure Chevy, the rest is marketing

.

 

[Loobed]

Quote:

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I am wondering if someone swapped out a fram for the AC Delco filter that was originally installed in your vehicle.
I always check to see if an air filter is installed in any new car I buy. You just can't trust some people.

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After I bought my NEW 2001 GMC, I did a general check of what was inside, just to make sure they didn't forget to install a filter (could happen

), and I found an orange FRAM

The oil filter was AC/Delco Blue.

I then bought a K&N

To be fair, the FRAM air filters are very good top shelf quality. Way better then the Purolator or Pure-1 for my truck. The Purolator Cabin Filters are top shelf quality, but the air filters look like [censored].

 

[Loobed]

Quote:

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Rant on:
and I have grown to, well, not love. Lousy cruise control, and that danged 13 MPG. I expected more from GMC.

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the Envoy should be the same as the Chevy Trail Blazer. My friends 2002 gets 22-23 MPG on teh highway and 18-19 otherwise. Something is wrong with your truck or the gas pedal

 

[schwartr88]

I started driving in 96 and have always taken well care of my trucks. I have all ways used fram air filter. I dont think I have ever not used a fram air filter and all my vehicles were just fine. I personally think the fram toughguard air filter is better than the purolator P1. It has more solid feel, and many more pleats and it costs less $$.

 

[Mike_dup1]

Sometimes they have source parts from whomever can deliver. Labor contract uncertainties, product production shortfalls and demand for some vehicle models strain the parts pipeline so they have contingency sources.

I have a friend who is a AC Delco service center and wholesale/retail parts dealer. He says he has seen Fram filters in AC Delco box's as well as Monroe shocks, NGK and Denso Spark plugs. GM builds about 1 million vehicles each year and they cannot rely on one source for parts.

This was some years back. I was having my vehicle serviced at a Cadillac Dealer and was reading a dealer only GM Parts magazine a friend in the dealership gave me. In there was a story about some GM owned axle plant in Michigan getting a quality award from Ford Motor company for suppling production parts to assembly plants. I think it was Detroit Gear and Axle which the sold to American Axle a few years back.